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Tag Archives: walkability
On walkable spaces for senior citizens
Here is a quick share of an article on walking and walkability, and the relation with dementia:
Steuteville, R. (March 10, 2025) “Living in a walkable place reduces dementia,” , https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2025/03/10/living-walkable-place-reduces-dementia [Last accessed: 3/29/2025]
To quote from the article:
“When we live in a walkable place, we move more, naturally. Unsurprisingly, exercise is linked to better cognitive health. Regular exercise increases memory, and boosts hippocampal volume by 2 percent.
Also, walkable neighborhoods are more stimulating. They are built on connected street networks, which give individuals more choices on how to get around and reward those choices with diverse physical paths linked to spatial memories. And they are mixed-use.
“Street layouts with better connectivity and walkability are associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment. Access to local amenities, such as food stores, community centers, and healthcare amenities, supports cognitive health,” the authors note.
Social connections also probably help. When you walk to a destination, you are more likely to have friendly interactions, which have been shown to reduce the risk of depression, and walkable places also boost the sense of community.”
As there are many senior citizens in our village, the topic is quite relevant. Most seniors probably won’t take a walk if they felt it was dangerous or risky even inside residential subdivisions. In our neighborhood, there are a few of them going around using their motorcycles or scooters. Most I see walking around perhaps for exercise or leisure rather than to go to a store or restaurant in the area. But increased traffic due to customers of restaurants that sprouted around the village has increased the risk for those who walk. Hopefully, the induced motor vehicle traffic generated by these establishments can be managed and regulated for the overall welfare of residents.
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Designing a “Runnable” City
I’m sure you’ve read or heard about walkable cities. But have you read or heard about “runnable” ones? Here’s a quick share of an article about cities where you can run, jog or walk.
Source: Designing a “Runnable” City
To quote from the article:
“Several urban design principles can enhance the runnability of a city:
Connectivity and accessibility: This means developing a network of interconnected running paths and trails that are easily accessed from various parts of the city (especially neighborhoods). Even better if can be green corridors that connect to other parks and open spaces, and support continuous movement.
Safety and security: Ensuring running paths are well-lit and separated from vehicle traffic is crucial. Traffic calming measures such as vehicle lane narrowing, wider footpaths, and appropriate landscaping enhance runner safety. Street trees also help reduce car speeds, as they alter our perception of how wide the road is and provide a psychological cue that we’re in a residential area. Redesigning urban infrastructure to include dedicated running paths alongside walking paths and bicycle lanes, is a great idea.
Inclusive design: City design should encourage active mobility, which means including benches, water fountains, and restrooms along running routes. It means building footpaths that enables running, and avoiding uneven, slippery or unfavorable surfaces such as cobblestones. It also means making it easy to find your way around — even in unfamiliar environments.”
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Pedestrian-Friendly Cities: The Impact of Walkability Grants
Here is a quick share of an article on how to encourage cities to be more pedestrian-friendly:
Source: Pedestrian-Friendly Cities: The Impact of Walkability Grants
Many of our cities, particularly the highly urbanized ones, are not as walkable as we want them to be. Lacking are the most basic facilities such as sidewalks and safe crossings. Walkability Grants such as those in the US can encourage cities to build and/or enhance pedestrian infrastructure. Many designs such as those footbridges along EDSA and Commonwealth Avenue, for example, are anti-walking. Grants may be used to come up with better designs for walkways and footbridges.
To quote from the article:
“Walkability grants are awards for programs and projects creating innovative pedestrian infrastructure, such as new sidewalks, crosswalks, plazas, street lights and green spaces. For example, in February 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program, delivering $800 million in monetary awards for 511 projects addressing public safety and road improvements…
Reshaping the built environment into a walkable haven helps boost the local economy and sustainability. By changing the urban landscape, citizens are more inclined to walk instead of drive, allowing cities to reduce emissions, improve air quality and create healthier neighborhoods. This is critical, considering air pollution is responsible for 7 million early deaths yearly.”
Perhaps we can have similar grants coming from national government via the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in cooperation with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)? There was some funding for bikeways during the pandemic but this new one should put more emphasis on walkability.
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On the benefits of walkable communities to pregnant women
I break the series on MCIA Terminal 1 to share this interesting article relating walkable communities to healthier pregnancies:
To quote from the article:
“The study, published in the journal of Economics and Human Biology, found that expectant mothers living in walkable counties tend to engage in more walking and exercise and have fewer issues with premature births, low birth weight, gestational diabetes and hypertension. Walking is often recommended as a safer, more moderate activity for pregnant women, so the authors reasoned that living in a more walkable area could have health benefits for them.”
If you’re interested in the details of the study referred to in the article, here is the link to the paper entitled “You’ll never walk alone – the effects of walkability on pregnancy behaviors and outcomes” in the journal Economics & Human Biology:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2023.101269
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On walkability and walkability scores
I’m sharing a couple of articles on walkability and walkability scores. The first one actually points to the second but provides brief insights about the concept of walkability while the second is a more detailed article on the findings of a study on walkability.
Ionesco, D. (May 4, 2022) “Walkability Scores Don’t Tell the Whole Story,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/05/117075-walkability-scores-dont-tell-whole-story?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-05052022&mc_cid=c04e3e4dc0&mc_eid=9ccfe464b1 [Last accessed: 5/7/2022]
To quote from the article:
“if cities truly want to be pedestrian-friendly, they need to think beyond the sidewalk…”
The second article is from late April:
Gwam, P., Noble, E. and Freemark, Y. (April 28, 2022) “Redefining Walkability,” urban.org, https://www.urban.org/features/redefining-walkability [Last accessed: 5/7/2022]
To quote from the article:
“To create a more comfortable walking experience, our research points to a few steps DC planners and policymakers can take to increase racially equitable walkability across the city:
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expand tree cover in the densest parts of the city,
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increase nonautomotive modes of transportation in central areas,
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reduce noise pollution,
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support more equitable access to key resources, and
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prioritize road design that limits the need for police traffic enforcement.”
While the article puts emphasis on the topic of racial equity, such concept can easily be adapted and adopted for our purposes. For one, it could be interpreted as being inclusive if one is not comfortable with the term “race”.
Don’t miss downloading the technical appendix of their report. This will be very useful to researchers, practitioners and advocates of active transport.
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Walk, walk, walk
When I was living in Japan in the late 1990s and again in the early 2000s, I recall walking a lot every day. I felt healthy then not just because I thought I ate well but I had a lot of exercise, too. I consciously walked and jogged in the mornings and/or afternoons depending on the weather. And my commute included walks between my train station and the university. The following article seems to support what should be a healthy lifestyle without gym time.
Okumura, K. (November 6, 2020) “How Japanese People Stay Fit for Life, Without Ever Visiting a Gym,” Medium.com, https://kokumura.medium.com/how-the-japanese-exercise-to-stay-youthful-be2d6105e6e6.
I tried to estimate the number of steps I took on average each day. It seems I could easily make more than 10,000 steps everyday as I usually walk more than 6,000 steps for my commute and the typical walks in and around campus (including lunch time strolls with friends). My morning and afternoon walks can match this 6,000 steps. These can even be more during weekends when I’m out in the city or in Tokyo to be with friends. These steps seem nothing then and I loved to walk around partly to keep my sanity while studying there.
When I was visiting researcher later at another university, my step count was about the same if not higher. The only difference perhaps between Yokohama and Saitama was that I had a bicycle when I was in Saitama. The bicycle increased my range and I took the bicycle lent to me by friends to dome groceries or explore the nearby wards. Those were the days, I guess, that I wished I still have now in terms of more active transportation.
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Pedestrians first!
The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) released a new tool for assessing walkability and presents good practice examples from many cities around the world. The tool can be used to assess and/or compare your city, a neighborhood or a street with others. Here is the link to the ITDP’s tool:
https://pedestriansfirst.itdp.org
There is an introductory article that came out recently from Planetizen about this tool:
Litman, T. (October 16, 2020) ‘Pedestrians First’ Measures Walkability for Babies, Toddlers, Caregivers, Everyone. Planetizen. https://www.planetizen.com/node/110876?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-10192020&mc_cid=1736ec624f&mc_eid=9ccfe464b1
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Walking in downtown Cebu City
Last month when we were in Cebu to coordinate with our counterparts at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR), I took some quick photos of the sidewalk scenes near the university. We stayed at a nearby hotel so that meant we only needed to walk to/from USJR for our meetings. Here are some of those photos.
Many buildings in the downtown area have designs where sidewalks are practically covered, protecting pedestrians vs. the elements. This alludes to arcade design architecture you find in many old cities’ downtowns including Manila, Iloilo and Bacolod.
There are many shops and stores at ground level. Depending on the area, there will be hardware stores, electronic stores, school supplies and others.
Along some streets, one will find makeshift stalls occupying the road itself. I assume these are allowed by the city along certain streets.
Typical street vendor with his mobile store. Fruits, local delicacies and snacks, and refreshments are popular.
I believe these scenes reflect on the character of the city and gives the visitor a view of life in the downtown area of the city, which in this case is Cebu, the oldest city in the country. I will be back in Cebu soon and will be taking more photos around downtown. I’ll be posting these, too.
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A compilation of studies on walkability in the Philippines
My students have been engaged in studies on walkability (and related topics) the past few years. These have been a mix of published and unpublished work that I have compiled at list below:
Unpublished works:
- Capalar, M.A.M. and Garma, F.A.A. (2018) Assessment of Walkability Along Taft Avenue, Unpublished Research Report, Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman
- Pajarin, J.B., Soriano, C.M. and Regidor, J.R.F. (2017) Assessment of Mobility of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Cainta, Rizal, Unpublished Research Report, Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
- Cortez, E.H.D. and Razon, J.V.DV. (2017) Assessment of Walkability Along Katipunan Avenue, Unpublished Research Report, Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
- Marcelo, K.R.S. and Salvador, J.P.B. (2015) Assessment of Pedestrian Facilities Along Marcos Highway, Unpublished Research Report, Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
Published works:
• Pajarin, J.B., Soriano, C.M. and Regidor, J.R.F. (2018) “Assessment of Mobility of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Cainta, Rizal,” Philippines Transportation Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 60-80.
• Pajarin, J.B., Soriano, C.M. and Regidor, J.R.F. (2017) “Assessment of Mobility of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Cainta, Rizal,” Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, Quezon City, July 21, 2017.
• Regidor, J.R.F., Marcelo, K.R.S. and Salvador, J.P.B. (2016) “Assessment of Pedestrian Facilities Along Marcos Highway,” Proceedings of the DPWH Research Symposium 2016, Quezon City, September 2016.
Here’s a paper based on a comprehensive study our centre conducted for the City of Olongapo in the Province of Zambales:
• Palmiano, H.S.O., Javier, S.F.D. and Regidor, J.R.F. (2015) “An Assessment of Walkability in a Medium-Sized Philippine City,” Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 10, December 2015.
We hope to continue such studies with future advisees who perhaps can tackle other corridors or even areas. Among those on my Wishlist would be Espana Avenue, Ortigas Avenue, Intramuros, Recto Avenue, and even EDSA or Circumferential Road 5.
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On prioritising pedestrians and promoting walking
We begin March with an excellent article that came out from curbed.com:
Walker, A. (2018) The case against sidewalks and how cities can create new avenues for pedestrians, curbed.com, https://www.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16980682/city-sidewalk-repair-future-walking-neighborhood [Last accessed 2/23/2018].
How do we improve the environment (i.e., facilities) to encourage people to walk? Do we simply clear up sidewalks? Widen them? Build overpasses and underpasses? What should be the context for improving pedestrian facilities for our cities and municipalities? What are the implications to planning and design?
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Caught (up) in traffic 